Entrepreneurial intent from a crowdfunding perspective

The volatile economic condition in Malaysia has shifted the government's focus towards the development of entrepreneurs, especially among Malaysian graduates. Crowdfunding, an online platform to obtain funding through a large pool of people could be an alternative to gain financial capital to embark on entrepreneurship. Given this, crowdfunding has taken centre stage among the upcoming graduate entrepreneurs. Employing a quantitative research method, the purpose of the study is to investigate whether crowdfunding usefulness influences entrepreneurial intention among graduates. A total of 395 graduates participated in the study by responding to an online structured questionnaire. Collected data were analysed with structural equation modelling. The findings provided evidence for a significant relationship between crowdfunding usefulness and entrepreneurial intention among Malaysian graduates. Additionally, instrumental readiness was found to partially mediate the relationship between crowdfunding usefulness and entrepreneurial intention. The findings strongly support the notion that awareness of crowdfunding usefulness will increase entrepreneurial intentions among graduates regardless of economic environmental dynamism. Therefore, future research shall discover more salient dimensions of crowdfunding and its usefulness to identify influencing factors within the crowdfunding perspective in the context of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intentions.